


Part of Your World

by CaptainKathryn



Series: Butterfly Kisses 'verse [2]
Category: The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: A little bit of gay sex but it's sweet, Connor meets Kevin's family, Domesticity, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Especially at the end when they go to Orlando, Established Relationship, Estrangement, Family Drama, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Meet the Family, Mild Angst, Nervousness, Romance, Slice of Life, The boys are there for each other, They are sweet and love each other so much, the boys come home from Uganda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 09:40:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11620926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKathryn/pseuds/CaptainKathryn
Summary: This story is a continuation of "Butterfly Kisses and Birthday Wishes".Kevin Price and Connor McKinley must return back home to Utah and face their families and pasts. They learn that being together means they will need to make some sacrifices along the way, while discovering what it means to choose one's own family. McPriceley.





	Part of Your World

This story is Part 2 of the [_Butterfly Kisses_ series/verse](http://archiveofourown.org/series/783048). It's recommended to read [Part 1](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10564272) first.

 

**_1 and a half years later_ **

 

Kevin was finishing packing up his small, brown suitcase, carefully folding his old Mormon underwear and white dress shirts into neat little piles, when suddenly he overheard what sounded like a muffled cry coming from Connor’s room. Furrowing his brow and abandoning his packing, he quickly ran over to the door of his boyfriend’s room and knocked on it softly.

“Connor?” He asked in a concerned tone before waiting a moment or two for a reply. When no response came from inside the room, he tried again with more urgency to his tone. “Connor? Are you okay?”

Upon hearing another muffled cry coming from inside the room, he decided he would just have to let himself in. Opening up the door just a crack, Kevin cautiously peeked his head inside and saw what sounded like a very distraught Connor laying in his bed, the room dark without any lights on. His purple and blue polka-dotted bedspread was pulled up over his head so much that Kevin could barely see him.

“Connor?” Kevin asked worriedly as he carefully approached the covered lump he knew to be his boyfriend of the past year and a half. Kevin sat down on the bed beside Connor and placed a tender hand on his back, peeling back the covers with his free hand to reveal Connor’s red, tear-stained face. Kevin felt an ocean of sadness well up in his chest – it looked as though Connor had been crying for quite some time.

“Hey there.” Kevin cooed softly as he leaned in to place a gentle kiss on one of Connor’s wet eyelids.

Connor opened his eyes and looked up at Kevin sadly, sniffling. “Hey.” Was all he could choke out in a small voice.

Kevin moved the covers off of Connor so he could get underneath them and lay beside his partner. Once they were both snuggled together underneath the warmth of the covers, Kevin pulled Connor into his chest and laid a series of gentle kisses on his forehead.

Reaching up and stroking Connor’s rosy cheek, Kevin sighed sadly. “I really hate seeing you like this. Were you on the phone with your parents again? What did they say to you this time?”

Connor bit his lip and shrugged. “Same thing they always say. I just wanted to try and talk about it again…I mean, I already gave them a few weeks to cool off and think about it…and I just thought they might’ve changed their minds. But, it was just the same thing all over again…it’s always the same.”

Connor shuddered a bit and slammed his eyes shut, fresh tears rolling freely from his eyelids and down his cheeks. He opened his eyes again with a loud gasp. “They said they haven’t changed their minds and that I better not come back home as long as I’m…” Connor’s voice cracked, his body trembling violently. “I can’t go back there, Kevin. I can’t…” He sobbed into his boyfriend—the only person in the entire world who was allowed to see him in this condition.

Kevin gripped his partner tightly in response and held him as close as he possibly could, gently caressing his back to try and calm him down. He swallowed hard and spoke apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Connor. I shouldn’t…I shouldn’t have pushed you into telling them anything yet. It was stupid to think they might actually be understanding about this.”

Connor shook his head and looked up into Kevin’s brown eyes, which were normally bright and happy, but in this moment were filled with worry.

“It’s okay. It was only a matter of time before they’d find out anyway.” Connor hiccupped loudly before taking in a shaky breath. “This isn’t your fault. I’m actually glad I got it over with sooner rather than later.”

The two boys shared a few moments of quiet contemplation, Kevin holding tightly onto Connor, caressing the small of his back and kissing the top of his head.

“I just wish it didn’t have to hurt so much.” Connor lamented in a soft whisper, breaking their reflective silence. “I mean, they’re my _parents_ , Kevin. They’re supposed to love me no matter what. Isn’t that what they signed up for?”

A burst of fresh tears escaped Connor’s eyelids before he continued. “I mean, I’ve _never_ stopped loving them, even after all this…even after they told me I was a disgrace, that I better not come back home as long as I was…as long as I was…” He hiccupped. “God, they’re still my _parents_ , Kevin!” Connor shuddered violently into Kevin’s chest. “It hurts so much…I didn’t think anything could possibly hurt this much.” Connor gripped his boyfriend’s back tighter, his tears soaking into Kevin’s shirt.

Kevin gave his partner a reassuring squeeze, a tear rolling down his own cheek. He felt very fortunate that his own parents, who were, albeit, profoundly disappointed in their son for everything that had happened over the past two years, did not bar him from coming back home to them and have not completely ex-communicated him.

Mr. Price, Kevin’s father, had certainly felt disgraced after hearing about his son’s failure as a Mormon missionary roughly two years ago. Kevin and his dad had a few telephone calls afterwards where they rehashed what had happened and, eventually, managed to come to some sort of mutual understanding. Still though, their relationship remained rocky for months afterwards. Then nearly a year later, knowing he would be coming home to his family with a _boyfriend_ of all things, decided he had to be honest with them about his sexuality and, more importantly, his relationship with Connor McKinley. That first conversation, though—his coming out to them—was absolutely disastrous. Mostly because of his father. His mother, he could tell, was at least trying her best to make sense of it all and was willing to listen to Kevin’s explanation. He tried to explain to her that being in love with a boy wasn’t so different than being in love with a girl—it was the love and friendship that mattered. At least she was willing to listen to his side of the argument. His father, however, was more old-fashioned and conservative than his mother and had not spoken to Kevin on the phone since that day.

From that day onward, Kevin regularly had phone conversations with his mother that seemed to go a little bit easier each time. They were almost at a point of mutual understanding. Kevin’s mother assured him that his father would eventually come around and that their eldest son was always welcome back home with them. She told him, as moms often did, that _everything would be alright_.

Kevin was hopeful that Connor’s parents would eventually come around too. He just couldn’t rationalize how a parent could ever just stop caring for their own child like that. In Connor’s case, their _only_ child.

“Everything will be okay, Con. I promise.” Kevin assured his partner softly and nuzzled his cheek into the other boy's soft red hair. “And I don’t think they’ve completely stopped _loving_ you or anything. I think they probably just don’t know how to deal with this right now. They might come around later on, you’ll see. They probably need some more time to process it, that’s all. I really do believe that.”

Connor didn’t agree with Kevin’s optimism at all, not even one bit. After all, Kevin hadn’t heard the tone of utter disgust and contempt in his father’s voice when he told them. Hours and hours, Connor spent on the phone with them, trying, with great fear and trepidation, to come out to them and explain to his strict Mormon parents that he was gay. That he had always been gay ever since he was a child. And not just that he was gay, but that he and former-Elder Kevin Price were in a loving, romantic relationship together and that he would be bringing his new boyfriend home to meet the family. Connor knew his parents would be upset and react negatively, but what he had not expected, after weeks of trying to make up with them, was to just receive the same answer over and over again—that there was _no way_ he would be allowed to come home to their house if he “insisted on being gay”. Their perception that he actually had a choice in the matter both saddened and enraged him on a deeply personal level.

But, Connor didn’t want to argue with Kevin over it. His relationship with Kevin was the only part of his life that made any sense to him anymore. When he was wrapped up in Kevin’s strong arms, he felt safe and protected, as though everything else in his life wasn’t in complete shambles.

After a few minutes of silence, Kevin pulled back slightly so he could gaze down into Connor’s eyes. Connor had such kind, beautiful blue eyes, Kevin thought. But on this day, they just looked frightened, scared of what lie ahead for them back home. Kevin wanted to clear up any confusion Connor might have had about exactly what was going to happen the following day after they got off the plane.

“You’re obviously going to stay with me at my house when we get back home. You know that, right?” Kevin assured him in his usual confident tone. “You have to know that.”

Connor’s lips reluctantly tugged upward into a small, half-smile. “Yeah, I know.” He paused for a moment. “I’m still a little worried about your parents though. I mean, I know they’ve been somewhat more understanding than my parents, but they could still— “.

Kevin cut him off by leaning down and kissing the other boy softly on the lips, before pulling back and speaking in a tone of optimistic authority. “No one is going to break us up, Connor. No one. And I’m certainly not letting you get on that plane tomorrow morning not knowing _exactly_ where you’ll be sleeping that night. You’re coming home with me and my parents will just have to deal with it because you’re my…you’re not just my boyfriend…you’re my _everything_ , you’re my…life, and I love you, Connor McKinley. More than anything, I love you.” He paused briefly and stroked Connor’s cheek with the back of his hand. “And that’s that. Okay?”

Connor swallowed hard and nodded, finally allowing himself to genuinely smile for the first time all day. “Okay.”

“And even if, God forbid, they don’t accept us and they throw us right out onto the street, which they won’t do, but even if they do, it’ll be _okay_ because we have enough money left over from our mission funds and and we have…each other.” Kevin paused and let his mouth turn upward into a smirk. “I mean, worse comes to worse, we move into a crappy little apartment and live like poor hipsters for a year while we figure everything out. Does that really sound so bad?”

“No, it doesn’t.” Connor admitted, looking up at Kevin. “You’d look kinda cute in hipster glasses.” He softly teased, an inkling of a grin playing on his lips.

Kevin gazed down at his partner with fondness before leaning in for a soft kiss. After a few moments of lazy kissing, Kevin pulled Connor into an embrace and they laid like that together for a long while.

A comfortable silence had fallen upon them once again and Connor just wished he could stay wrapped up in Kevin’s arms forever, where nothing could ever hurt him and everything was alright. But, alas, they still had a ton of packing to do and a goodbye party to attend, not to mention an early flight to catch the next morning back to the good old land of Mormonism: Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

* * *

 

After an uncomfortable fourteen-hour flight with two layovers, their plane finally landed at Salt Lake City International Airport and the continuation of their former life was about to begin.

Connor was incredibly nervous about meeting Kevin’s family for the first time. Throughout the entire flight, Connor couldn’t stop obsessing about all of the terrible things that might transpire once they got off the plane. Kevin always did his best to try and comfort his boyfriend, but this time it was simply no use.

In Connor’s mind, all of this felt like the end of an era. An era in which they were free to be themselves without judgment, in which they never had to answer to anyone and could live their lives as genuinely and freely as they pleased. Unfortunately, they knew their visas were about to expire and the Mormon Church would never renew them. They were only meant to spend two years on their mission and they had been two years incredibly well spent. Arnold was fortunate enough to be able to bring Nabulungi home with him on a fiancé visa and they planned to get married within the next year. Kevin and Connor were overjoyed for them. They also knew that they would be able to count on Arnold and Nabulungi to be there for them if all Hell broke loose with Kevin’s parents.

To Connor, the cab ride to Kevin’s house felt like a funeral procession. He was so nervous that it was actually making him physically sick to his stomach and, though Kevin liked to put on an overly confident façade to make Connor feel better, it was evident in the brunette’s eyes and his trembling hands that he was just as scared as Connor.

Connor buried his body deep into Kevin’s warmth the entire trip to the house, silently willing all of the pain and worry to go away, relishing in the feeling of being lost in Kevin’s arms. When he existed in _that_ world, nothing else mattered except himself and Kevin. However, it was only a short-lived respite. After a silent thirty-minute ride, the cab finally pulled up in front of Kevin’s house.

Kevin gave his partner a gentle squeeze and put on his best forced smile. “We’re here!” He exclaimed happily. His smile instantly faded when he looked down at Connor and saw nothing but pure terror in his partner’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Connor’s eyes suddenly welled up with fresh tears and he shook his head fervently. “No, I’m not okay…I’m not okay.”

Kevin’s brow furrowed as he helped a trembling Connor out of the cab. He paid the bill quickly and got their suitcases out of the trunk. Before entering the house, however, Kevin instead brought Connor over to the swing set they still had in the yard that Kevin used to play on as a kid. It was the middle of the night, the moon glowing above them, and it looked as though the house was dead quiet, his family most likely asleep. They had time.

Kevin sat Connor down on one of the rusty old swings and knelt down in front of him.

“Hey, you.” He whispered softly, reaching up to wipe a stray tear from Connor’s eyelid. “I know this is really scary, but I meant it when I told you not to worry. My family is going to love you.”

“What if they don’t?” Connor choked out in shaky voice.

“They will. You’re the sweetest, kindest person in the whole world and they’d be crazy not to love you. They aren’t such bad people, Connor. I mean, yeah, they’re pretty brainwashed by the Church and they are definitely disappointed in me and all, but I really don’t think they would ever make you leave the house knowing you don’t have anywhere to go. They aren’t monsters. They’d have to be to turn away someone like you, someone that I love. Just let me deal with them and it’ll be okay, I promise. Don’t you trust me?”

Connor nodded, sniffling. “Of course I trust you.”

The redhead then took a good look around at the yard. It was very standard, very middle class. They had a white wooden fence around the yard of their three-story home. There was a little fire pit in the backyard and a nice porch to sit at by the door, equipped with a small bench swing.

“Your house is nice.” Connor noted, smiling weakly before dipping his head to face the ground, shrugging. “It reminds me of my parents’ house a little. I mean, ours isn’t quite as big as yours, but it’s still a lot like this.” Connor paused and bit his lip. “I actually didn’t grow up too far from here, you know. It’s only about 10 minutes away. We passed my exit on the way here.”

The pain Connor felt was written all over his face and the only thing Kevin wanted to do was to make it all go away. “I know this must be hard for you, coming back here and not being able to go home to see your family. But, they might still come around. I really think they will. Maybe, if everything goes well with _my_ parents, they can talk to _your_ parents and then we can all —”.

Kevin stopped talking abruptly when Connor suddenly leaned down and placed an urgent kiss on his lips. That was usually Kevin’s trick to get Connor to stop talking, but every once in a while he used it on Kevin when he was least expecting it. After a few moments of affectionate kissing, Connor pulled back and gazed into the other boy’s eyes.

“None of that matters anymore. You’re my family now.” Connor whispered softly, leaning down and kissing him again fervently, this time cupping his face with his hands as he did so. After pulling back from the kiss, he playfully tousled Kevin’s hair, mussing it up. “Whether you want to be or not.”

Kevin stood up so that he was now leaning over Connor, who was still sitting on the swing with his legs dangling.

“I want to be.” Kevin spoke sincerely before pressing his lips to Connor’s and running his fingers through the boy’s red hair.

Connor didn’t know how long they stayed like that, quietly kissing on Kevin’s old childhood swing set under the radiant glow of moonlight, but after what seemed like too long a time to be openly showing that kind of affection in Kevin’s parents’ front yard, Connor finally pulled back and shook his head. Kevin was panting slightly now, his eyes glassy and cheeks flushed.

Connor smiled warmly and gave Kevin a knowing look. “Alright, we should probably get inside now, it’s getting really late.”

Kevin moaned softly in protest and reached up to graze the back of his hand against Connor’s rosy cheek. “That’s not fair…now you got me feeling all…y’know.” Kevin murmured softly and leaned down to resume their soft kissing.

Connor moaned through the kiss and tapped Kevin’s back. “Mmmm.” He pried his lips off of Kevin and spoke with firmness. “Kevin, someone could see us. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. We’re at your _parents'_ house. Could you imagine if they saw us out here like this? They’d throw me out of here faster than—”

Kevin leaned in and cut him off again with another tender kiss.

“They’re sound asleep.” Kevin pulled back for just a moment to make his breathy retort before eagerly placing his lips right back onto Connor’s.

Connor groaned through the kiss and tapped his boyfriend’s back repeatedly, signaling it was time to stop. Finally, Kevin pulled back and sighed. “Fine, but if we were back home, I would be doing unspeakable things to you right now, Connor McKinley. Unspeakable.” He responded in jest to Connor’s insistence that they go inside, a playful grin tugging at his lips.

Connor laughed, a glimmer of content evident in his eyes, before reaching up to muss Kevin’s hair again. “But we’re not home, are we?”

“No, we’re not.” He paused for a moment. “I’m not sure when I started thinking of that tiny shack in the middle of nowhere Uganda as being home, but it sure feels like home right about now.” Kevin stated with a hint of sadness in his voice. “I miss it already.”

“I miss it too.” Connor nodded with a sad smile. After a brief pause, he cocked his head to the side in thought. “What do you think we’d be doing right now if we were back home together?”

“Besides each other?” Kevin joked, causing Connor’s cheeks to turn pink. Kevin loved making Connor blush. He just looked so adorable when his freckled cheeks turned all rosy.

Kevin continued. “I don’t know. I guess we’d be cuddling in bed or watching a movie together or something…or maybe I’d be asleep because I always fall asleep first and you’d be laying there and watching me sleep like a creeper.”

Connor’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah.” The brunette boy agreed sadly, but then perked up. “We’ll have that again though. You know that, right?” Kevin assured him, reaching down to stroke Connor’s blushed cheek. “Maybe not today or tomorrow, but we will. And being here with my parents won’t be so bad. We’ll still get to be alone together. I wouldn’t let anyone deprive me of my sweet Connor.”

“I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you.” Connor pondered aloud as he stood up to embrace Kevin. “You somehow make me feel happy even when everything sucks.”

Kevin squeezed Connor close and kissed the soft red hair atop his head. “I love you. Let’s get inside now and go to sleep. I’ll talk to my mom about everything in the morning. She’ll be more understanding than my dad. I’m a bit of a momma’s boy.” Kevin admitted with a light blush and led Connor into the house without making too much noise.

Once inside, Kevin brought Connor up to his old childhood bedroom. The stairs creaked beneath their feet as they walked upstairs, making Connor’s heart nearly pop out of his chest every time they took a step. Thankfully, nobody in the house woke up and Kevin and Connor made it safely into his bedroom without incident. Kevin locked the door behind them to make sure they wouldn’t be getting any early morning surprises before he had a chance to talk to them.

Connor glanced around the room. Kevin’s childhood bedroom looked exactly as he expected. Various trophies from high school adorned the shelves and medals for this and that hung along the walls. There was random Mormon paraphernalia in places where no medals hung. It was extremely tidy and well-kempt, just as he imagined it would be.

The items in the room no longer seemed fitting for the Kevin Price he now knew to be his partner though. The medals were from a life he no longer had. The Mormon trinkets and flyers no longer held any kind of sentimental value to him other than for nostalgia. Connor often daydreamed about himself and Kevin getting their own home one day and decorating it exactly how they wanted it. Thinking about those possibilities always made Connor feel hopeful.

Connor and Kevin both undressed into their underwear and awkwardly climbed into Kevin’s childhood twin bed, covering themselves up with faded Garfield sheets and an old plaid blue bedspread. The bed frame creaked a bit from age as they climbed in, causing the pair to giggle quietly to one another. The bed had not been slept in for quite some time.

Kevin blushed and let out a small chuckle. “Wow, I forgot how tiny this bed is. It might be kinda cramped.”

It didn’t matter. Connor was already practically melded into Kevin’s side anyway. They fit together like two pieces of a perfect puzzle, Connor’s head nestled right into the small nook between Kevin’s shoulder and chest, his right leg draped over his boyfriend’s thighs, and Kevin’s arms wrapped securely around Connor’s shoulders and back, respectively. Connor let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and allowed his mind to gradually retreat back to his happy place—the place in his mind that only existed when he was safe and sound in Kevin’s arms.

What he was not expecting to feel was Kevin’s hand slowly wandering over the cheek of his buttocks and down his leg, before tenderly peeling back the cloth of his right boxer short and grazing his inner thigh. Connor involuntarily let out a soft moan at the unexpected touch, but wasn’t sure what Kevin was thinking. They couldn’t do anything in _here_ , in Kevin’s parents’ house. After a couple of seconds though, Kevin slowly moved up and trailed his fingers gently over the increasingly large bulge in his boyfriend’s boxer shorts. Connor gasped in both horror and pleasure when Kevin’s hand began to gently caress him.

“Kevin, you _cannot_ be serious right now!” Connor chastised him in an alarmist whisper. Kevin’s fingers were still grazing his privates over the material of his boxer shorts, making Connor turn instantly hard. Kevin had gotten a lot of practice over the past year and a half in turning Connor on and by this point he had it nearly down to a science. Kevin was typically easily aroused by anything Connor did or said…or even if he wasn’t doing anything at all, whereas Connor needed a bit of a slower hand. By this point, though, Kevin knew exactly how to drive him crazy. And, as was often the case, once Connor was turned on, there was typically no turning back. Kevin’s hands always seemed to know precisely where and how to touch Connor to make him go from zero to sixty in less than a minute. As much as Connor constantly tried to suppress the urge in circumstances like these when he knew he shouldn’t be feeling that way, once Kevin touched him like that, nothing could extinguish his desire until Kevin provided his sweet release.

“Seriously, Kevin, we’re in your parents’ house! What is wrong with you?” Connor whispered in a tone muddled with shock, arousal, and annoyance. “Stop it right now. I’m serious.” Connor chided him and gently removed Kevin’s hand from his hardness.

The moment Kevin’s hand was no longer touching him, all Connor wanted—no, _needed_ —was for it to come back and touch him again. But, he resisted. There was no way he was doing _that_ with Kevin’s parents in the next room. Add to that, the amount of mental turmoil Connor had been feeling over the past few days. It was just too much to handle. Connor wasn’t even technically _welcome_ yet in his parents’ home and Kevin already wanted to take it too far.

Kevin swallowed hard and blushed a bright shade of red. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this to make me feel so…um, you know.” Kevin bit his lip shyly and nuzzled his cheek into Connor’s hair. “But it just feels so naughty and crazy. I mean, I have you in my childhood bed and my parents are _right_ in the next room. Doesn’t that make you feel a little…I don’t know, excited?”

Connor shook his head in near disbelief and forced himself to contain a giant grin at Kevin’s words.

“You’re the worst.” Connor finally teased, causing an honest laugh to burst from Kevin. “I mean it. You’re the actual worst.”

Connor allowed himself a quiet giggle and cuddled closer to his lover’s side. He did not want to encourage Kevin any further though, so he put on his best dad face and spoke sternly. “We can’t do that, not tonight. I haven’t even _met_ your mom and dad yet. My brain is completely frazzled from everything that’s been happening and I just need to get some sleep now, okay?”

Connor did want to sleep, that part was true, but now he also wanted nothing more than to feel Kevin’s hand right back where he ached to be touched the most.

“I’m sorry.” Kevin apologized and leaned over to snuggle deeper into Connor. “I love you. You just go to sleep, okay? I didn’t mean to…do that…here.” He flushed sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Connor gave Kevin a soft, forgiving kiss. “Don’t be sorry, it’s okay. I just don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with your parents. Could you imagine if they heard us? We can’t, Kevin. At least not yet.” Connor leaned in and kissed him sweetly once more and cuddled closer to him. “As much as we might want to.”

Kevin nodded and leaned over Connor’s body to flick the light off that sat on the nightstand. Kevin wrapped his arms back around Connor and pulled him close. “Goodnight. I love you.”

Connor smiled into Kevin’s chest and breathed in the familiar scent, his free hand absentmindedly stroking the sides of Kevin’s midsection. “Love you, too. Goodnight.”

 

* * *

 

It was six o’clock the next morning and Kevin had managed to not get even a single wink of sleep all night long. He watched as Connor slowly drifted off to sleep in his arms and then proceeded to spend the next few hours wide awake—thinking, worrying. When Connor was afraid, it was easy for Kevin to act as though he was fine and that nothing was bothering him. But after Connor had fallen asleep, all Kevin could think about was how on Earth he would explain all of this to his mother. And _worse_ , his father. He couldn’t let his parents be unkind to Connor. It just couldn’t be allowed to happen, not after all he’d been through, after all the promises Kevin had made to his partner to try and calm him down. And he certainly wasn’t about to let them throw him out onto the street. Kevin knew he would have to fight them a little bit, but he honestly didn’t believe they were the types of people who would turn the love of his life away with nowhere else to go. It broke Kevin’s heart to even think about what Connor must have been going through over the past few weeks with his own parents. He admired Connor for somehow holding it all together. If that had been him in his boyfriend’s place, Kevin might have completely unraveled. He knew by now that Connor was a Hell of a lot stronger than most people gave him credit for.

At about seven o’clock in the morning, after getting absolutely no sleep, Kevin gently disentangled himself from Connor’s snoozing body and cautiously walked downstairs to see if anyone in his family was awake yet. As he moved toward the kitchen, he overheard the familiar sound of his mother humming softly to herself as she began to prepare breakfast. _You Are My Sunshine_ , Kevin thought to himself. It had been a long time since he heard his mother hum that familiar tune. It was the song she used to sing to Kevin when he was a little boy.

Swallowing hard, he finally entered the kitchen and nervously cleared his throat to get her attention. “Mom?”

Kevin’s mother whirled around and immediately covered her hands over her mouth in an attempt to suppress her overwhelming happiness. Her face erupted into a huge grin as she ran toward her son. “Kevin! Oh my gosh, Kevin!”

She embraced her son fiercely, squeezing him tight and kissing his cheek. “I can’t believe how long it’s been. I’ve missed you so much. Let me get a good look at you.” She exclaimed melodically as she stepped back to gaze at the son she had not seen in nearly two years.

Kevin did a mock twirl for his mother and chuckled in delight at his mother’s reaction to him being home.

His mother beamed, clutching her hands to her chest. “You look wonderful, Kevin. But you must be completely exhausted. When did you get in last night?”

Kevin’s fears began to melt away, his face now overtaken by a giant grin. His mother was _happy_ to see him. Despite everything that had happened, she clearly still loved him and wanted him home. That was enough to at least somewhat ease his anxiety.

Kevin snapped out of his reverie and nodded. “Late, Mom, really late. Sorry I didn’t come get you, but it was after midnight and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh, Kevin.” His mother exclaimed once more, a few rogue tears pouring from eyes. She leaned in to embrace Kevin again. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Kevin pulled back from the hug and sniffled. “I’ve missed you too, Mom. And dad and Jack and Cody…gosh, I’ve missed all of you so much.” Kevin hurriedly brushed away a tear that had slipped out of his eye.

“Come, sit down here.” She urged Kevin as she started fixing him a space at the table. She poured him a glass of orange juice and handed him a cookie. “A cookie and some OJ to tide you over until breakfast is ready.”

Kevin smiled appreciatively, but noticed his mom seemed little bit nervous. “Thanks, Mom.”

She paused and brought her hand up to stroke Kevin’s cheek. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you again, Kevin. It feels like it’s been forever since you left on that plane two years ago. You’ll have to tell me everything about your trip. I can’t wait to hear all about _Africa_.” His mom exclaimed, busily cleaning up the table in a bit of a nervous frenzy.

“Oh, I will. I have so many crazy stories to tell you.” Kevin paused reflectively and chuckled. “You wouldn’t _believe_ some of things that happened to us. But we made a lot of really great friends too. It ended up not being so bad after all.” Kevin’s smiled faded as he glanced worriedly over at his mother when he saw how frenetic she seemed. “Mom, are you okay?”

His mother looked back up at Kevin and he could see her face was etched with worry. “Of course, Kevin. I’m fine.”

Kevin furrowed his brow and shook his head. “You don’t seem okay. Did I do something wrong? Am I making you nervous? I mean, I know I haven’t been home in a long time and a lot of stuff has happened, but— “

His mom waved her hands to quiet her son. “Everything is fine, Kevin. I’m just happy you’re home.”

Kevin nodded and bit into his cookie. It was chocolate chip, his favorite. “Oh, these are your homemade chocolate chip cookies! My favorite cookie in the whole world.” He beamed. “Thanks, Mom.”

His mother shrugged with a small grin playing on her lips. “Well, I knew you’d be home today so I made them fresh last night. You probably didn’t have anything close to your mother’s famous chocolate chip cookies in Africa, did you?”

Kevin bit hungrily into the cookie. “That’s an understatement.”

His mother moved toward the stove to start making breakfast, but Kevin spoke up to stop her. He wanted to get all of this over with before his dad woke up. “Um, Mom, before you start breakfast…can you, um, can you sit down with me for a minute? I have something kind of important to talk to you about before Dad gets up. I just…really want to talk to you alone about it first, just us.”

His mom paused her movements and let out a regretful sigh. “Of course. And I…I actually have something to tell you too, Kevin.”

“Oh?” Kevin asked, a bit confused. “Okay, I didn’t know that. Uh, do you want to go first?”

His mother shook her head fervently. “No, it’s okay. You can go first.” She took a seat across from Kevin and reached her hands out to clasp them warmly onto Kevin’s. “I’m ready.”

“Okay.” Kevin replied in a small voice, trying to rally up enough strength to do this. “Well, uh, okay. So remember when I called you a few months ago to let you know I was coming home soon?”

His mother nodded and smiled warmly at her son. “Yes, I remember.”

Kevin swallowed hard and paused for a moment before continuing. “And when we talked, I told you about how I had, um…” He cleared his throat nervously. “Um…about how I had found someone very special to me while I was on my mission, someone who means a lot to me. I explained that we’ve been together in a relationship for over a year now. You remember?” Kevin didn’t know why he felt compelled to ask her. He knew she remembered.

His mother nodded, her eyes darting down towards table instead of up at Kevin’s eyes. “Of course I remember, Kevin.”

Kevin’s hands trembled underneath his mother’s grasp. “And I told you about how the person I found, the person I… _love_ , um…isn’t a girl. He’s a…he’s a he. A boy.” Kevin exhaled hard, but then kept going when his mother didn’t react. “Dad was really upset when I told you guys and I know you had some trouble accepting it too. But, the last few times you and I talked, you seemed to be a little more...understanding about it. At least, it seemed like you were. I’m not sure about Dad, he wouldn’t get on the phone with me.”

He paused, waiting for some kind of reply or reaction, but it never came. “And I told you I’d be bringing him over to meet you guys once we got back home. So he could meet my family.” Kevin paused and decided to check in to make sure his mom understood. “Did I get any of that wrong?”

His mother shook her head and gently patted Kevin’s hand. “No.”

Kevin exhaled a sigh of relief and nodded. “Good, good.” He noticed his mother hadn’t really said anything. “Um, you know, you can have a turn to speak too, if you want. If you have anything you want to say about all this…um, I know this all must have been a lot to take in these past few months. I dropped kind of a big bomb on you.”

He sighed and continued when his mother just nodded her head and didn’t say anything. “It took me a while to accept it too, you know. This wasn’t easy for me either. I didn’t even know I had _those_ types of feelings for anyone, let alone other boys. I mean, not until I met Connor. Everything changed after I met Connor. I finally understood what everyone was always going on about when they talked about love and stuff.”

His mother still didn’t have anything to say, it seemed, so he continued. “I want you to know that we’re really happy together. I think you’re just going to…adore him. He’s, um, really nice and sweet and funny, in sort of a dorky kind of way. He’s such a dork.” Kevin let out a reflective chuckle. “He’s super smart and caring. So caring. Oh, and he likes to bake, just like you do. So you have that in common. He can sing really well and he likes to dance and stuff. He’s really good at it too.” Kevin stammered. He didn’t know how else to make his case. “He has all the qualities you like in a person, Mom. I just know you’ll love him.” Kevin only had one more thing left to say, but it was a big one and he was hoping his mother would have more to say on the matter before he told her. “Well, don’t you have anything to say?”

Kevin’s mother looked up and gave him a weak smile. “I’m happy for you, Kevin. I really am. I already told you that over the phone, didn’t I? I thought we already went through this.”

Kevin was surprised at how calm his mother was being about all this, but he couldn’t understand why she still looked so sad. “If you’re so happy for me, then why do you look like you’re about to start crying? What’s going on?”

His mother shook her head. “Finish yours first. You were going to tell me something else, weren’t you?” Her mother prodded tersely, refusing to divulge whatever seemed to be bothering her.

Kevin nodded and looked down. He had started perspiring and he could feel his hands were now completely soaked underneath his mother’s. “Well, um, Connor’s parents haven’t been quite as understanding as you guys. In fact, they told him not to bother coming back home at all. Can you believe they would do that to their only child? I think it’s…I think it’s just terrible. He’s really upset about it and it's just breaking my heart. You don’t understand how sweet he is, Mom. He wouldn’t hurt anyone. He doesn’t even like killing bugs. And they go and do that to him.”

His mother still said nothing. He loved her so much, but this was starting to get on his nerves. He was pouring his heart out to her and he was getting nothing. “He has nowhere to go, Mom.” He pleaded, followed by a few moments of silence. “And I love him…so much…so I told him he could stay with us. With me. Here. In the house.” He stammered nervously. “At least until we can afford our own place or go to college or whatever we end up doing. We’re still figuring things out. It’s not permanent or anything. But, he really has no where else to go. And I love him, Mom. I really do love him. I know it’s hard for you to understand because he’s a boy, but I swear the love is the same.”

His mother lifted her head up and Kevin could see a brief flicker of anger and disappointment flash across her face. However, as she looked into Kevin’s pleading eyes, eyes filled with a mixture of love and fear, any anger she felt towards her son was quickly extinguished.

She finally just looked down and nodded. “Okay.”

Kevin was beginning to think aliens had abducted his real mother and replaced her with this lifeless drone that sat in front of him. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“What do you want me to say?” His mother asked in an exasperated tone. “What’s done is done, Kevin. I don’t have the energy to be upset about this anymore. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters to me. It’ll be okay. I told you it would be okay, didn’t I?” She then sighed mournfully and patted Kevin’s hands. “But I have something to tell you too.”

They were quiet for a while as Kevin let his mother gather her thoughts. Whatever this news was, Kevin had a hunch it wasn’t going to be good.

“Your father, he— “, she started, bracing herself for a moment before finally divulging the truth to her eldest son. “Your father left me, Kevin.” She finally blurted out.

For a minute or two, Kevin wasn’t certain he had heard that right. “What?” Kevin finally asked with a loud gasp, his resolve slowly beginning to weaken as the implications of the news gradually caught up with him. “What—what are you talking about? What do you mean he left you? What?”

His mom sighed and squeezed Kevin’s hands beneath hers. “I’m saying that your father left me, Kevin. He’s not here. He’s gone. He moved into his own apartment over four months ago. I just didn’t want to tell you something like that over the phone. I wanted to wait until you came home so I could tell you in person.” His mother took in a breath. “I’m sorry.”

Kevin’s face crumbled. None of this made any sense. “I don’t understand.” His voice was a noticeably higher pitch now as tears formed in his eyes. “You mean…you mean Dad isn’t here?”

“No.” She said in a softer tone, trying to soothe her son. “He isn’t here and he won’t be coming home.”

Kevin stood up and began pacing, racking his brain for answers to this most confusing development.

“Why?” Kevin finally snapped harshly, whipping around to face his increasingly distraught mother. “What happened? You’ve been together for over _twenty_ years. None of this is making any sense. He suddenly decides to leave you? Out of nowhere? To leave us? Nothing’s changed!”

“Kevin.” His mother lamented mournfully. “You know that isn’t true. You know that.”

It was then that Kevin finally understood. He suddenly felt as though he wasn’t able to breathe, the weight of a ton of bricks on his chest threatening to suffocate him.

He finally took in a series of deep breaths to calm himself and shakily sat down. “Me? Are you saying he left because of… _me_?”

His mother looked up into Kevin’s eyes. His sad, tired eyes. She wasn’t sure how to honestly answer that. “I’m not going to lie and say that your… _news_ …wasn’t what caused the problem between us. It was. But, this isn’t your fault, Kevin. Things happen. Kids make mistakes. Kids go their own way sometimes. You can’t just abandon them when they do something you disapprove of. No matter how much it might hurt you.”

She swallowed hard and squeezed Kevin’s hand for reassurance. “Your father is very devout in his beliefs and chose to care about the Church more than he cares about you, about me, about our family. You’re my son, Kevin. I gave birth to you. I made you. We made you. There was no way I was going to let him…treat you the way I knew he was going to treat you once you came home. So we started fighting. Every day, we fought. It just got to be too much. He wasn’t willing to listen to anything I said. He wanted me to tell you not to come home at all. I wasn’t going to do that. Not to my son. I love you too much to do that.” She paused for a few moments, squeezing Kevin’s hands. “You might be turning twenty-one in a few weeks, but to me, you’ll always be my baby boy, Kevin. My first baby boy.” Tears fell down her face, but she didn’t have the strength to wipe them away.

Kevin’s entire body crumbled as he heaved in an array of shaky breaths, trying with all of his might not to break out crying, but it was no use. Tears began to fall freely from his eyes. He saw only black, his eyes slammed so tightly shut. He could barely hear anything now. Buzzing, sobbing was all he heard. After a moment, he felt the strong, caring arms of his mother wrap themselves tightly around him, causing him to feel like a small child again—one who sobbed uncontrollably into his mother’s chest.

 

* * *

 

Connor woke up really late—twelve o’ clock noon late—hours after Kevin had left the bed to go downstairs. He hadn’t been sleeping much recently with everything that had been going on, so he supposed he just paid an overdue sleep debt. Yawning loudly, he fetched his tattered purple panda slippers from his suitcase and put them on, along with an old faded BYU sweatshirt and plaid pajamas bottoms. After brushing his teeth, he slowly, cautiously, made his way downstairs. He paused when he got to the bottom step though. He could only see part way into the kitchen, but from the looks of it, Kevin and his mother were sitting together, talking quietly. They looked calm, but Kevin’s face looked awfully red and almost tear-streaked.

“Boo!” Someone suddenly shouted directly behind Connor, causing him jump in fright and let out a small cry.

Connor whipped around and saw someone who looked a lot like Kevin, but a couple of years noticeably younger. “Jesus!” Connor shrieked, trying to calm himself down.

The younger boy’s jaw dropped at the use of the word _Jesus_ and Connor quickly realized his error. “You just…scared me is all.” Connor whispered quietly, sweat beginning to form on his forehead. So much for his first impression on Kevin’s family. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

The boy blushed lightly and reached out his hand to shake Connor’s. “It’s okay, I just never heard anyone use Heavenly Father’s name like like before. I’m Jack, Kevin’s brother.”

Connor relaxed a bit and returned the handshake. “Of course. Hi, Jack. Kevin’s told me all about you. I’m Connor McKinley, Kevin’s b— “. He paused, thinking better of his word choice. He didn’t know what information Kevin had given to his family yet. “—friend. I’m Kevin’s friend. We were on our mission together.”

“Friend?” Jack asked quizzically. “He told us you were his _boyfriend_.” The younger boy said with a teasing giggle.

Connor’s nerves spiked as a rush of adrenaline quickly surged through his body—Kevin had told them everything. “Um, well, yeah, I guess. Kind of?” Connor stammered uncomfortably, blushing as red as a beet. “We’re sort of…boyfriends, I guess. In a way.”

“Kevin was right—you do blush a _lot_.” Jack laughed in jest and grabbed Connor by the arm, pulling him forcefully towards the kitchen. “Mom made breakfast, but you slept too late. But you’re just in time for lunch!”

Connor froze the moment Jack hurriedly pulled him into the kitchen. Jack took a seat at the table where everyone else sat together—Kevin, his mother, and a younger boy who looked to be about eight or nine years old. He guessed that was Kevin’s youngest brother, Cody. For a brief moment, Connor stood frozen, staring dumbly at Kevin’s family, suddenly worried about his appearance and the fact that he was in his pajamas and probably had terrible bedhead—and so many other random worries and thoughts racing through his mind. _Oh, and the panda slippers, those were probably not a good idea. Too gay, much too gay._

Kevin’s mother looked up and instantly met Connor’s eyes. His mother’s eyes looked kind, though he wasn’t exactly sure what other emotions he saw swimming around in there, but he certainly felt no anger or animosity from her. Connor then glanced anxiously over at Kevin, who was just smiling with obvious content at his boyfriend’s discomfort, though his face seemed simultaneously etched with heartbreak. He silently begged Kevin to get up and introduce him.

Kevin stood up with a teasing smile and wrapped one arm around Connor’s shoulders. “Mom, this is Connor, my…boyfriend. Connor, this is my Mom.”

“Hi, Mrs. Price.” Connor managed to squeak out, fear radiating from his pores, while waving a pathetic hand in the air.

“You can call me Johanna.” Kevin’s mother offered warmly as she stood up to properly greet him. “It’s so nice to meet you, Connor. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you from this one over here.” She pointed over to Kevin before wrapping her arms around Connor and pulling him into a friendly hug. “He apparently thinks the world of you.”

Connor couldn’t believe it. For a split second, he tried to just focus on processing the fact that all of his fears and obsessive worry seemed to have been for naught. Everything was working out fine—exactly as Kevin promised him it would. _Then why does Kevin look so sad?_

When Mrs. Price pulled back from the hug, she saw how anxious and scared Connor clearly was, but also noticed a shimmer of relief wash over his face. “Well, you must be starving. Lunch will be ready soon.” She said soothingly to Connor.

“Cooking.” Connor stammered, not knowing why he suddenly stated that so awkwardly. “I mean, um, I like cooking and baking. If you ever need…help…with anything. I’m okay at it.” Connor inwardly cursed himself for sounding like such an awkward mess.

Kevin piped in. “Connor can sing and dance too.” Taking a second to smirk, he added. “Sometimes while cooking.”

Connor blushed hard and Mrs. Price chuckled at the boy’s apparent nervousness. It was quite endearing. Kevin was right, he was definitely a very sweet boy. She could have easily picked on him, but decided that would be wrong. He was clearly shaken up about the whole thing. “Yes, Kevin’s told me you’re quite the baker. I’ll have to show you how to make Kevin’s favorite chocolate chip cookies while you’re here. Then you’ll be able to make them for him.”

Connor visibly relaxed at Kevin’s touch as he led him over to the table and gently sat him down into the chair beside him. “Sure, yeah, I’d like that.”

Kevin’s youngest brother, Cody, stared at Connor intently for a minute or two before blurting out. “You have too many freckles. Doesn’t he have a lot of freckles, Mom?”

Connor wasn’t sure how to react to that so he just glanced over at Kevin quizzically.

“Remember, I told you Cody has Asperger’s.” Kevin whispered quietly to Connor, one arm wrapped around his shoulders. Connor gave Kevin an understanding nod and smiled warmly over at Cody. He had never met anyone with that condition before, so it just startled him a bit. Kevin had spent a lot of time explaining it to Connor, but it was a bit different to experience it first hand.

“Cody, that’s not a very nice thing to say to Connor. He’s our guest.” His mom chided Kevin’s younger brother gently.

“I want to count them.” The youngest boy stated matter-of-factly and got out of his seat to move in front of Connor.

“Cody, no.” Kevin chastised him and went to pull him back. “That’s not polite.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Connor giggled and shook his head. “I really don’t mind.” He looked down at Cody. “It’s okay, you can count them.”

Cody grinned and brought his small fingers up to Connor’s face and started counting his freckles, one by one. “One, two, three, four, six…”

Connor shook his head. “Wait, what about five?”

“Huh?” Cody asked, his brow furrowing.

“You missed five. One, two, three, four, _five_ , six.” Connor corrected him gently. “Try again.”

The younger boy thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t like five.” Cody answered seriously and continued counting.

Connor glanced over to Kevin with a smirk, the latter boy now giggling. Connor noticed Kevin’s face still looked awfully tired though. And slightly red as though he had been crying. He made a mental note to ask him about it once they were alone together later.

“You have too many freckles!” Cody noted with an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. “It makes it _really_ hard to count.” He said sternly, as though Connor was putting him out.

“Well, you don’t _have_ to count them, silly.” Connor pointed out, patting Cody gently on the head. “Not if there’s too many.”

“Yes, I do. If I don’t count them, how will you know how many there are?” The boy retorted as though the answer was obvious. Connor shook his head, giggling, and let the boy keep poking and prodding at his face, counting his freckles. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed being with children.

Soon after, Mrs. Price served them all a hearty lunch of grilled cheese and potato wedges, which Connor hungrily ate, his belly practically aching for sustenance. They continued to talk for a while longer about some of the adventures they had while in Uganda. Kevin and Connor excitedly told them all about Arnold and Nabulungi and how they couldn’t wait for his mother to meet their best friends. They told her about all of the other Elders and their various post-mission work and college plans. After a few hours of talking and digesting their lunches, Mrs. Price made them each a mug of hot chocolate with little marshmallows floating on top (despite it being June)—another one of Kevin’s favorites, of course. She wanted him to have all of his favorites on his first day back home. Connor’s belly was content and full with delicious lunch and hot chocolate, his heart filled to the brim from watching on as Kevin talked and laughed happily with his mother and little brothers, and for the first time in quite a long while, Connor didn’t feel so alone anymore.

 

* * *

 

Kevin and Connor went upstairs later on that day to take a much needed nap. After all, Kevin hadn’t gotten any sleep at all the night before. Kevin’s mother insisted on setting up the guest bedroom for Connor to stay in, of course, but Kevin knew she wouldn’t know or care if Kevin spent time alone with Connor in his room. It wasn’t like she was really going to do anything about it. Kevin’s life of sin was already so out in the open that there wasn’t really much she could do about it at that point. He meant a mental note to tell her about his newly acquired coffee drinking habit as well.

Connor was busy in the guest room, settling in and unpacking the clothes from his suitcase, when Kevin quietly let himself in unnoticed. He leaned back against the wall, watching on as Connor hummed sweetly to himself as he fluffed up the pillows and straightened out the blankets for their nap. A small smiled danced on Kevin’s lips as he watched him busily fix up the room.

“Con?” Kevin finally asked softly, still leaning against the wall, watching his boyfriend with fondness.

Connor looked up to meet Kevin’s tired eyes and hurried over to him after reading Kevin’s silent plea.

“Hey.” Connor whispered and leaned into Kevin, planting a soft kiss on his lips. “Are you okay? I was waiting until we were alone to ask, but you didn’t look so good today. Everything went so well with your family…I thought you’d be overjoyed about it.”

“I am, I am. I’m so happy about that. They really like you, Con. I never had any doubt they would.” Kevin assured him, placing his hands on Connor’s hips and giving them a gentle squeeze. “But did you notice my dad wasn’t here?” Kevin asked, his eyes glistening slightly with unshed tears.

Connor bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, I was wondering about that. I thought he might’ve just been working or something.”

“All day on Saturday?” Kevin asked knowingly. “Come on, Connor, get real.”

Connor’s eyes shone with concern at Kevin’s harsh tone. “Alright, I guess not. What happened then? Where is he?”

“Apparently he moved out… _months_ ago. Just up and left my mom and moved out. Because of _me_. Because I’m gay and I’m with you. That’s the reason.” Kevin answered flatly, sniffling through a few rogue tears.

“What a lovely welcome home _that_ was.” Kevin added sarcastically, a bitter taste lingering in his mouth. Fresh tears fell from Kevin’s eyes which he hurried to wipe away. “I mean, I knew he wasn’t exactly thrilled about this whole thing, sure, but I didn’t think he’d actually—.” Kevin gasped and wiped frantically at his eyes. He hated crying in front of people, even if it was only Connor. “Dammit.”

Connor’s eyes filled up with unshed tears to match his partner’s. “Oh, Kevin. Oh, no, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” Connor gripped his boyfriend into a tight embrace, both of them leaning up against the wall. Connor didn’t know what else to say. He knew all too well that no amount of words could make that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach go away. All he could really do was be there for him.

“I thought my parents were different.” Kevin finally choked out. “I really did.”

Connor pulled back a bit and ran a comforting hand across Kevin’s cheek, wiping away the tiny water droplets. “Your mom is, Kev. She’s been so great to us. To be honest, she’s made me feel more welcome here in the past few hours than I’ve ever felt at my parents’ house. I still can’t believe how nice she’s being to me.”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah, she’s great. So that’s one out of four parents who hasn’t completely removed themselves from our lives. Those aren’t great numbers, Connor.”

“That’s better than none.” Connor reminded him softly. “I really thought it would be none. Your mother is being amazing. You should be thankful for that. Some people don’t have anyone supportive like that in their family.”

“Why? Why should I be thankful for that?” Kevin scoffed angrily. “Oh, gee, thanks, Mom. Thanks for not completely _abandoning_ me just because I’m in love with Connor who happens to be a boy. Your heart is _so_ big. Wow, that’s so big of you.” Kevin kicked the wall angrily and looked down. “I shouldn’t have to _thank_ anyone for that, Connor. It should just be a given. I shouldn’t have to apologize to the world just for…just for loving you.”

Connor shook his head. “I know. You’re just angry with your dad right now, that’s all. Please don’t take it out on your mom. Your mom’s been completely amazing, Kevin. That’s way more than I can say for mine.”

Kevin sniffled and grabbed onto Connor, pulling him in close. “I know. I know your parents have been way worse than mine.” Kevin’s tears dripped out onto the top of Connor’s head, making his soft, red hair moist. “I’ll just shut up about it now.”

Connor shook his head and sighed. “No, silly, that’s not what I meant. I want you to tell me your feelings. Let’s go lay down, okay?” He gently led Kevin over to the bed where they laid down to cuddle and take a nap, Connor covering Kevin up with the soft comforter before sliding in next to him.

Kevin felt completely disheveled and undone in front of Connor—his emotions bare and vulnerable. For him to completely unravel like this was a rare occasion that Connor almost never witnessed.

“Come ‘ere.” Connor murmured softly and brought Kevin into his chest, where he held Kevin close for quite a long time, a comfortable silence engulfing the room.

“I love you.” Kevin eventually whispered through leftover sniffles.

“I love you too.” Connor whispered back, slowly caressing Kevin’s hair, carding it through his fingers. “You know, I really like your family a lot. And I’m not just saying that because they’re your family either. Your brothers are hysterical and your mom has been so sweet to me.” Connor let out a content sigh. “I don’t feel so scared anymore, ya know? I was so nervous coming here. Now it feels almost like I belong. I mean, I know it’s only been a day. Do I sound really silly?”

Kevin smiled, though still sniffling a little from crying earlier. “No.” Squeezing Connor’s warm body gently, Kevin continued. “Cody certainly seems to like you. He doesn’t like that many people either. You must have the magic touch or something.”

Connor giggled at the recollection of Cody counting the freckles on his face. “He’s so cute!” The redhead exclaimed excitedly before pausing for a second in thoughtful reflection. “I love being with children. They just have this innocence about them that makes me feel all happy and mushy inside.”

Kevin was quiet for a moment before turning his head up towards Connor. “I didn’t know that about you. Why didn’t I know that about you?”

Connor shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it never came up. You knew I had fun running the dance classes at the village school. Remember?”

Kevin nodded, smiling softly at the memory. “Yeah. You were so good with them. They loved you.” He paused for a while longer before shrugging. “Do you think you might…um, want to have kids one day?”

Connor thought about it for a moment. “You mean…with you, right?”

Kevin blushed. “Well, yeah, that’s sorta what I meant. Us. Together. Having a kid. Adopting a kid, whatever gay couples do to have kids. As long as it’s with you. I mean, not any time soon or anything, I just meant maybe one day—”

Connor gave Kevin a reassuring squeeze. “Of course I would. You’d be the most amazing dad. I just know it.”

Kevin beamed. “I think that about you too.” He allowed himself to imagine it for a few moments. “You’d be the sweet one, the one who bakes them brownies and packs their little lunchboxes for school and kisses them when they get boo-boos and stuff. You’d make a whole bunch of rules too, but they would know deep down that you were just an old softie.”

Connor giggled softly and continued to card Kevin’s hair with his fingers. “That sounds about right.” He continued their little made up game. “You’d help them with their homework after school and take them out for pizza after baseball games. And you’d probably let them have too much soda and ice cream and then not tell me about it.” He mock-scowled down at Kevin.

Kevin looked up at Connor with a guilty face. “But you’d find out.”

“Of course.” Connor grunted knowingly.

“And we’d take them to Disney World at least once every other year, right? Maybe even every year?” Kevin asked, looking up at Connor with hopeful eyes. Nodding, Connor grinned and squeezed his boyfriend tightly into his warmth.

After a few minutes of quiet reflection, Kevin let his free hand absentmindedly caress Connor’s chest underneath the boy’s old, tattered sweatshirt, fondling the tiny coarse hairs with his fingertips, twisting and turning them over and over. “I have no idea what I’d do without you, Con.” Kevin admitted softly, his fingers still dancing over his partner’s chest hair. “Please promise me I’ll never have to find out?” He looked up at his partner expectantly.

Connor let out a soft chuckle and leaned down to kiss Kevin’s forehead. “I promise.”

 

* * *

 

The next few weeks were spent in happy familial bliss. Connor learned all about Kevin’s family—what his brother Jack’s favorite subject in school was and what he wanted to be when he grew up (science and chemist, respectively), what his mother’s profession was (fourth-grade teacher), and who the best Scrabble player in the family was (Kevin, but Connor already knew that). Kevin’s mom showed Connor her old vinyl record collection and the family’s recipe book that had been passed down from Kevin’s grandmother. They looked at old family photo albums together and baked a ton of cookies, each of them fawning over their mutual love for Kevin whenever they had nothing else to talk about. Connor learned how to make Kevin’s favorite chocolate chip cookies and after several tries, Kevin even admitted they tasted _almost_ as good as his mother’s. Connor and Kevin still spent quality time alone together each night, engaging in idle pillow talk, both of them sleeping in the guest room together (the bed in the guest room was at least a full size and not a twin).

Connor still didn’t let Kevin charm him into doing any intimate activity in his parents’ house, much to the latter boy’s chagrin. Kevin had the brilliant idea of stuffing socks in Connor’s mouth to muffle what were sure to be his usual cries of pleasure, but Connor scrunched up his face at the idea and told Kevin to _never_ suggest that again. Other than Kevin’s sex-starved body that constantly felt hormonal whenever he held Connor close to him at night, they were quite happy. Much happier than Connor could have ever predicted.

That was, until Kevin’s twenty-first birthday rolled around. Mrs. Price let Connor and the kids in the know that she would be throwing Kevin a surprise birthday party later that week on July 2nd, the day before Kevin’s real birthday on the 3rd. Kevin’s mother had a list of eleven boys from their neighborhood and local Mormon Church that Kevin was good friends with growing up. She was certain that seeing them again after two years would make Kevin’s twenty-first birthday the happiest he’s had in ages. Connor thought it was a great idea, but couldn’t really recall Kevin ever mentioning any close friends that he still talked to.

Nevertheless, his mother went ahead and invited his childhood friends to the party. Several of the boys had to decline, saying that their parents wouldn’t let them come because of Kevin’s ex-communication with the Mormon Church—which, thanks to his father, Kevin’s membership with the Church had been formally, officially revoked while he was still in Uganda. Kevin was allowed to fight the Church’s decision, of course, in a sort of “Church hearing”, but he decided against it – he would always be a cultural Mormon, he supposed, but he no longer believed in what the Church stood for anyway.

So that was four boys out already. His mother received yesses from the seven other boys though, which she thought would be enough anyway. She ordered all of the catering from Kevin’s favorite Italian restaurant and elicited Connor’s help in getting Kevin out of the house while she baked his double-layer, triple-chocolate birthday cake the morning of the party.

“You look like a tourist, Con.” Kevin teased as his redheaded boyfriend pulled a lanyard over his neck that carried his oversized Nikon camera. “You know you’re _from_ Salt Lake, right?”

“I just want to get lots of pictures of us at all the sights.” Connor retorted, clipping on a tacky blue fanny pack that wrapped snugly around his waist. “We have almost no pictures of us together.”

Kevin wanted desperately to mock Connor mercilessly about the fanny pack, but part of him thought it was adorable so he let it go.

“Why do we have to do this again?” Kevin whined as he begrudgingly laced up his sneakers. “We’ve been to all these places before. Not to mention it’s hot as Hell outside.”

Connor had to keep reminding Kevin that he shouldn’t curse as much now that he was back home with his still-Mormon family, but it occasionally slipped out. “Err…I mean, hot as _heck_.” Kevin corrected himself.

“Oh, shush up. It’ll be fun!” Connor exclaimed enthusiastically while spraying sunscreen on his pasty white arms. “I wanna take you out on a proper date for your birthday. We didn’t get to have many of those back in Uganda, you know, and, to be honest, I feel a little cheated.” Connor playfully stated before cocking his head to the side, attempting to put on his most endearing look. “Besides, don’t you want to spend the day with me?”

“You know I do.” Kevin replied softly, his lips turning upward into a grin. “I love you, fanny pack or not.”

Connor shot him a glare and Kevin continued. “Besides, I don’t want you to feel cheated. Come on.” He stood up and wrapped an arm around Connor’s waist, happily leading them out the door.

They caught the bus that would take them into the heart of town. The boys had already seen all the sights there were to see in Salt Lake City many times over, but Connor just needed an excuse to get Kevin out of the house. He even got Kevin up at six in the morning, claiming he wanted to have a nice breakfast out together (and coffee, of course, much to Kevin’s delight).

Even though Connor was doing this mainly at Kevin’s mother’s prodding, he relished in the opportunity to spend the entire day alone with his boyfriend. Sure, he was enjoying getting to know Kevin’s family, but he couldn’t help feel as though their quality time alone together was suffering a little for it. On this day, though, he wanted to keep Kevin all to himself. Well, at least until they had to head back home by five o’clock for the surprise party.

Kevin and Connor stepped off the bus in front of a rustic old diner.

“How about this place?” Connor asked hopefully, clutching the oversized camera he was carrying to his chest. Kevin agreed and they went inside and took seats at a booth.

“I haven’t been here in ages.” Kevin noted thoughtfully, flipping through the menu. “We came here for breakfast the morning I flew to Uganda.”

Connor nodded, smiling at something on the menu. “Look, they have a bunch of weird coffees. You can get a cappuccino.”

Kevin grinned. “ _Two_ cappuccinos. If we’re going to stay together, you need to start drinking coffee, Con.”

Connor shook his head. “Never. It’s too bitter.”

“Once you’re addicted, it tastes amazing.” Kevin giggled and reached over to rest his hand over Connor’s, giving it a soft squeeze. “You were right. This was a good idea.”

Connor beamed and ordered them two cappuccinos and western omelets. The waiter gave the pair a bit of a judgmental look when he came back with their food ten minutes later and saw the boys’ hands intertwined, but was polite nonetheless.

“That was weird.” Kevin noted, turning back to Connor and shoveling a big bite of egg into his mouth.

“Not really. You don’t see a lot of gay couples around here.” Connor reminded him through chews. “The giant Mormon temple is literally two blocks away.”

Kevin let out an exasperated sigh. “Why are you always okay with people treating you like that? Like you’re…somehow different or less than them or something just because you’re—” He decided to lower his voice. “—gay?”

Connor shook his head. “I’m not _okay_ with it. I’m just…used to it, I guess.” He smirked at Kevin knowingly. “I knew I was gay a lot longer than you did, remember?”

Kevin was quiet for a minute, agreeing to disagree, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one of the other waiters who looked very familiar.

“Uh-oh.” Kevin whispered to Connor. “I think that’s my friend Jimmy over there.” He pointed to a rather husky looking boy with dark hair and green eyes, who was taking one of the other customer’s orders. Kevin quickly shushed Connor when he went to turn all the way around to look.

“Don’t do that, it’ll call his attention. I really don’t feel like talking to him.” Kevin sighed, shifting his focus back to his omelet, taking in a big bite.

“Why?” Connor whispered in surprise, turning back to face Kevin.

Kevin shrugged nonchalantly and his face turned into what Connor knew to be Kevin’s-lying-face. “No reason. I just don’t have that much in common with him anymore, that’s all.”

“How do you know that?” Connor offered optimistically. “You haven’t seen him in over two years!”

Kevin shook his head. “Trust me. The friends I had growing up…they’re just very…” He sighed, not knowing how to explain it. “They’re like how I was when you first met me, only worse.”

“ _Worse_?” Connor exclaimed in disbelief. “How could they possibly be _worse_?”

Kevin rolled his eyes playfully. “Come on, I wasn’t that bad.”

Connor cocked his head to the side and smirked. “No. I mean, I still liked you.” He paused briefly. “Nobody else did.”

Kevin brought his face into his hands and shook his head. “I was an asshole, but this guy’s an even bigger asshole, Con. Like way bigger.”

Connor chuckled, shaking his head, and reached over to bring Kevin’s hands into his. “You were never an asshole, Kevin. Idealistic and arrogant, yes. But never an asshole.” Connor paused and squeezed his partner’s hands for reassurance. “I liked you from the first moment I met you, so you couldn’t have been that bad.”

The two boys spent a few moments beaming at one another, holding hands across the table, when suddenly Kevin saw Jimmy waving at him from across the room. He immediately removed his hands from Connor’s and sighed. “Dammit.” Kevin cursed and waved back reluctantly. “He’s gonna come over here now.”

Jimmy ran over to them excitedly and reached out to give Kevin a big hug. Kevin relaxed a bit at the gesture and warily accepted the hug.

“ _Kevin Price_!” Jimmy exclaimed. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re back here, man!” He paused for a moment, looking towards Connor. They both knew Jimmy had seen them holding hands just a few moments ago, but silently prayed he wouldn’t mention it. “Who’s this?”

Kevin stiffened. “Oh, this is Connor McKinley, my, um— “, he paused, not sure how much he really wanted to divulge to Jimmy, “—my, uh…my friend. We were on the same mission together. Connor, this is Jimmy Delancey.”

“Hi!” Connor squeaked out awkwardly. “I’m Connor.” He reached out to shake Jimmy’s hand, which the other boy accepted warily. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Jimmy replied, pulling his hand back from the shake and giving Connor a bit of a judgmental once over. Turning back towards Kevin, he continued. “Well, I just wanted to say hi and see what you’ve been up to these days. I’m working here at the diner all summer. Then it’s off to BYU in the Fall! How about you?”

Kevin fiddled with his hands nervously. “We’re, um, still figuring some things out.”

“We?” Jimmy asked quizzically, glancing over at Connor, who was looking increasingly nervous.

“ _Me_ , I meant me…I’m still…figuring things out.” Kevin barely choked out.

“Yeah, all of us at Church heard about the…well, you know…the _incident_.” Jimmy shrugged. “A lot of people were talking about you for a while there after your mission got shut down.”

Kevin nodded curtly. “I’m sure they were.”

“None of us could believe it. I mean, _Kevin Price_ …our superstar.” Jimmy shook his head. “I really thought you would outshine all of us. I mean, you were the _best_. I never thought anything like this would happen to you—I mean, to _you_ of all people.” Jimmy paused for a moment and continued. “There’s been, um, other rumors going around about you too.”

“Other rumors?” Kevin asked, his throat parched and dry. “What rumors?

“I’d rather not say.” Jimmy huffed and Kevin could have sworn he saw him sneer in Connor’s direction as he spoke.

Connor watched on as Kevin’s face fell in shame. He looked utterly humiliated.

“We should really get going.” Connor finally stammered, coming to Kevin’s rescue. “Can we have the check please?”

Jimmy nodded and gave Kevin a friendly pat on the back before leaning down into Kevin’s ear and whispering quietly, so that Connor couldn’t hear everything he was saying. “I want you to know…if you ever need any help, maybe getting back on the right path, let me know.” He paused. “I’ll always be here if you need to talk, Kev.”

Jimmy looked over at Connor with curious eyes before continuing. “Even if you’ve already sinned with boys, you can always come back to the Church if you’re willing to repent and work at it. Okay?” He patted Kevin’s back again and stood upright.

“Please leave. Just leave now.” Kevin begged in a hot whisper.

Jimmy sighed and shook his head sadly before walking away. Their waiter soon came back over with the check and handed it to Connor.

Kevin’s face burned hot with anger and humiliation as he stared for a minute or two at his mostly uneaten breakfast. He finally looked up at Connor, who was anxiously fiddling with the check and trying to count the money.

“Let’s get out of here.” Kevin finally said tersely. “I feel sick.”

Connor nodded, shakily placing the tip underneath the plate.

Once they were outside, Kevin leaned back against a telephone poll, covering his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry, Connor. I didn’t handle that well at all.” Kevin shuddered. “After all my talk about standing up to people and everything…”

Connor shook his head and leaned in to embrace his partner. “Shhh. It’s okay. I know how hard it is.” He pulled back and wiped a tear from Kevin’s eye. “And you were right, that guy is a real asshole.”

Connor grinned to try and cheer Kevin up, playfully tugging at the collar of his partner’s polo shirt. “Can we still go to the zoo and everything like we planned? You promised me I’d get to see the monkeys, remember? Don’t let that guy ruin our day out. He’s not worth it.”

Kevin sniffled, looking down into Connor’s pretty blue eyes. “No, of course I won’t. I love you. Let’s go.” He took Connor’s hand into his and they walked towards the zoo, not really caring if they got the occasional look or stare.

 

* * *

 

The pair got home at five o’clock, right on time for the surprise party. Kevin was eating an oversized cotton candy stick they had picked up at a food stand in town and Connor was laughing each time Kevin took a big bite out of it.

“You’re gonna get sick eating that crap.” Connor shook his head as they got to the front door.

“No, I’m not.” Kevin countered through a mouthful of wet pink sugar. “Cotton candy kiss?”

Before Connor could protest, Kevin leaned in and kissed him passionately on the lips, pressing his boyfriend up against the door. “Mmmm.” Kevin moaned as he pulled back. “Tastes yummy.”

Connor laughed and shook his head, wiping cotton candy remnants from his own lips. “Not now, Kevin. There’s, um, there’s…a bunch of people inside. Your mom kind of…um, threw you a surprise party. For your birthday.”

Kevin’s face lit up. “ _What_?” He asked in an excited yelp. “Are you serious?”

Connor giggled. “Yeah, but you have to act surprised, okay?”

He reached up and brushed a bit of stray cotton candy off of Kevin’s lips so he looked more presentable before opening the door.

Everyone jumped up at once and yelled “surprise!” after the pair entered the house, much to Kevin’s delight. He pretended to be surprised and everyone gathered around, taking turns hugging him and wishing him a happy birthday. After his family finished hugging him, he noticed a bunch of his old friends standing over near the punch bowl, some smiling and some just standing there awkwardly. Somewhat dumbfounded, though not entirely displeased, Kevin approached the group with a shocked expression on his face.

“Oh wow, hi guys.” Kevin said in disbelief. He didn’t think any of his friends would still want to hang out with him, given everything that happened. Judging how Jimmy behaved at the diner, he wasn’t sure he even wanted to find out.

“Kevin!” His oldest friend, Michael, came over first and embraced Kevin into a big hug. Michael was a nice guy and Kevin knew that if anyone wasn’t going to be judgmental of him, it would be Michael. “I’ve missed you so much! I didn’t even know you were back in town until your Mom called to invite me.” Michael pulled back from the hug and looked at Kevin quizzically. “Why didn’t you let me know you were back?”

Kevin shrugged and bit his lip. “Honestly? I wasn’t sure you’d still want to see me.”

“That’s crazy, Kev.” Michael assured him, reaching out to give him another hug.

One by one, Kevin greeted his former friends and cohorts, each with varying degrees of pleasantness and enthusiasm. After he was done, he looked around the room and glanced at Connor. “No Arnold and Nabulungi?”

Connor shrugged and looked around. “They said they’d be here.”

A few minutes later, Arnold came barreling loudly into the house with a giant wrapped gift in his arms. Nabulungi followed in tow, shaking her head.

Kevin’s face lit up into a grin as he ran over and embraced Nabulungi, then Arnold. Kevin gripped him so tight, Arnold thought he might suffocate.

“Go easy, Kev!” Arnold choked out during the hug. “I may be squishy, but I still feel pain.”

Kevin laughed and brought Arnold and Nabulungi over to meet his parents and brothers. Everyone was having a fun time talking for an hour or so, Kevin being showered with gifts and food and love. Connor watched on with a smile as Kevin and Arnold re-connected over a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey (Kevin’s mother insisted on buying it even after Connor kept reminding her it’s a kids’ game). He had forgotten that Kevin and Arnold were basically just giant children.

Michael came over and poked Connor’s shoulder. “Hey there, I’m Michael, Kevin’s friend.”

“Hey! Nice to meet you.” Connor exclaimed, shaking the boy’s hand. “Sorry I didn’t say hi earlier, everything’s been so crazy in here.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah.” He paused for a few moments. “So how do you know Kevin?”

Connor blushed red immediately. “I, um. I know him from our mission. We were on our mission together.”

Michael grinned shyly and gave Connor a playful nudge. “Well, I was over by the punch bowl talking to that Arnold guy earlier and he said you were his… _boyfriend_.”

Connor’s eyes widened in shock. “What? Arnold shouldn’t have said that. Not everyone knows yet. Especially not any of _these_ people.”

“Well, it’s totally cool with me. I love Kevin, he was like a brother to me growing up. I don’t care that he’s gay or whatever.” Michael then paused for a moment, looking around. “I can’t say the same for everyone else here though. You might want to tell that Arnold dude to zip it.”

Michael had been right and, one by one, the boys gasped to each other after the news began to spread amongst Kevin’s friends throughout the course of the party. Some of them decided to leave early, mainly the boys who didn’t really want to be there in the first place. A couple of others acted awkwardly towards Kevin after they found out, but stayed for a while longer out of politeness. Out of all his childhood friends, only Michael remained perfectly friendly towards Kevin by the end of the party.

Most of the boys had already left, which dampened Kevin’s spirits a bit. Part of him was upset at Arnold for blabbing about his relationship to the others, but he wasn’t really able to stay angry at Arnold for long. If they couldn’t accept Kevin’s relationship with Connor, he didn’t want them as friends anyway. That was the honest truth. Kevin quickly forgave Arnold’s mistake and the two continued goofing off and palling around until the cake was served.

Kevin cut the first piece of cake, a gigantic slice for himself. His mom made his favorite triple chocolate cake with lots of strawberries on top and swirls of chocolate mouse and whip. She wrote “Happy 21st Birthday, Kevin” in neat script on top.

“This one’s mine, okay?” Kevin announced, in case anyone was planning on stealing his enormous slice.

“Says the guy who just ate a giant cotton candy, two cupcakes, and a plate of raviolis.” Connor smirked at his boyfriend.

Kevin took his finger and scooped up a blob of chocolate mousse, but instead of putting in his mouth, he playfully covered Connor’s nose with it. “That’s what you get.”

Connor giggled and wiped it off with a napkin. “Gross, Kevin.”

Kevin beamed and cut Connor a smaller slice. The group now consisted only of Kevin’s mother and brothers, Connor, Arnold, Nabulungi, and Michael which were all the people Kevin cared about anyway. After the cake was eaten and all the presents were unwrapped, Arnold and Nabulungi hung out a while after, talking and joking around with Kevin and Connor. It was after midnight when everyone finally went home and Kevin and Connor went up to bed.

Kevin closed the door behind them and when he turned around, Connor immediately pushed into him roughly, leaning him up against the door, kissing him with urgency.

After a minute, Connor broke their kiss, grinning. “Happy Birthday.” He then pointed to his watch. “It’s after midnight, so you’re officially twenty-one now.” He leaned in and whispered into his partner’s ear. “And I have a present for you.”

Kevin’s eyes twinkled. “Is it you? Because you’re the only present I want right now.”

Connor cocked his head to the side, smirking. “Maybe, if you’re good.”

Kevin’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Connor blushed beet red. “I have a _real_ present for you, Kevin. Come here.” He took Kevin’s hand and brought him over to the bed. He opened the drawer to the nightstand and pulled out a small silver box and a card.

“Open it.” Connor urged impatiently, as Kevin stared at the items. “The box first.”

Kevin’s eyes sparkled in anticipation as he opened the small silver box. He pulled out two matching silver rings, each with a gemstone on top.

“Oh, wow.” Kevin exhaled, in awe, turning the two rings over in his hand. They were so beautiful. “These are beautiful, Connor. When did you…how did you…?”

Connor grinned at Kevin’s reaction. “Earlier today, when you were in the bookstore and I said I wanted to go look around the arcade. It was actually a clever ruse to go gift shopping for you.”

Kevin beamed and gave him a gentle squeeze. “I hope they weren’t too expensive or anything.”

“Read them.” Connor prodded excitedly. “The purple one first. I had them engraved.”

His partner overturned the ring with a small purple gemstone on top and read it aloud. “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I know something is starting right now.”

Kevin bit down hard on his lip to try and keep from tearing up and picked up the other ring with the blue stone and turned it over. “Watch and you’ll see, so glad to be— “, he paused for a second and smiled warmly “—part of your world.”

His eyes were leaking all over his face as he looked back up to Connor, sniffling. “That’s from the Little Mermaid.” Kevin paused for a moment and gave Connor a meaningful glance. “My favorite.”

Connor leaned in and wiped a tear from Kevin’s eyes. “Yeah, but I had to change some of the words. The real quote said ‘ _someday_ I’ll be part of your world’, but that didn’t make any sense for us. So I changed it a little. Do you like them?”

Kevin bit his lip and nuzzled into Connor’s neck. “I love them so much.” Kevin pulled back and wiped at his eye. “Which one’s mine?”

Connor pointed to Kevin’s ring. “The blue one, silly. It’s your favorite color.”

Kevin beamed and slipped the blue ring onto his ring finger. “It’s beautiful.” He reached over and slipped the purple one onto Connor’s. “Just like you.”

Kevin gazed down at the rings on their fingers and considered thoughtfully for a moment. “What do they mean, the rings?”

Connor blushed and shrugged. “They can mean whatever we want them to mean. But I was thinking, how about…um, like promise rings? Or something like that. If it’s not too silly.” Connor swallowed hard. “Like a promise that we’ll stay together and maybe get married one day? When we’re a few years older.”

Kevin nodded, a lone tear leaking out of his eye. “Promise rings. I like that.”

Connor breathed in a shaky breath from all of the heavy emotion. He pointed to the card. “There’s more. Um, the next one’s mostly from your mom though. I mean, she paid for all of it. But it was my idea, if that counts for anything.”

Kevin grinned and excitedly ripped open the envelope. He pulled out a Happy Birthday card and when he opened it, several pieces of varying sized papers fell out. The first one he picked up was a confirmation of a hotel reservation at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. Kevin’s jaw dropped immediately before picking up two round-trip plane tickets to Orlando for July 3rd and 13th, respectively, followed by two Disney Park hopper passes.

“Oh my god! _Connor!_ ” Kevin shrieked so loudly that it nearly hurt Connor’s ears, standing up from excitement, not knowing what else to do but jump up and down. “I can’t believe this! What!”

Connor laughed and reached out to give Kevin a hug. “Run downstairs and say thank you to your mom first because she paid for _all_ of this. Except the rings, I bought those.”

Kevin nodded and ran downstairs, yelling excitedly, leaving Connor cracking up on the bed, gathering the strewn-about pieces of very important papers.

Kevin came back up a few minutes later, completely frazzled from all of the excitement of the trip.

“We leave _tomorrow_ , Con! I can’t believe this!” He paced back and forth for a second, collecting his thoughts. “We have so much to do. I mean, we have to pack our suitcases and get bathing suits…do you have a bathing suit? I want to buy some of those little shampoos too and get sunscreen—mainly for you—and we’ll need snacks and—”

“Shhh.” Connor placed a finger over Kevin’s mouth to shut him up and leaned in for a kiss, snaking his arms around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Calm down.” Connor chided softly, pulling back from the kiss. “We have plenty of time for all that in the morning. The flight isn’t until six at night.” He reminded his boyfriend, pulling back slightly.

Kevin relaxed a bit in Connor’s arms and looked into those soft, blue eyes. “Thank you.”

Connor shook his head and nuzzled into Kevin’s neck. “Your mom bought all the Disney stuff, Kev. I just helped.”

“But it was your idea and you got us these beautiful rings.” Kevin sighed in contentment and kissed the top of Connor’s head. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

Connor closed his eyes and buried his face into his boyfriend’s warmth. “I think so.”

“Good.” Kevin replied happily, squeezing Connor close to him. There was a brief pause before Kevin started giggling out of nowhere, causing Connor to furrow his brow.

“What’s so funny?” Connor asked suspiciously.

Kevin bit his lip and ran a hand through Connor’s hair. “So…do I still get birthday sex?”

Connor laughed heartily into Kevin’s chest and shook his head. “How about tomorrow night when we’re alone at the hotel? You can wait one more day.”

Kevin groaned a little. “Well, of course we’ll do it in the hotel. Duh, Connor.” He grinned mischievously, causing his partner to roll his eyes. “But I want to be with you now. It would make my birthday the best ever.” He paused for a second and cocked his head to the side in thought. “Actually, this is already the best birthday ever. But it would make it even better than best.”

“You can’t have better than best, silly. Best is already the highest level of goodness.” Connor retorted, snaking his hands up underneath Kevin’s shirt to gently stroke the sensitive skin of his back. “That said…” Connor pulled back suddenly and gave Kevin a playful shove so that he landed down hard on the bed, the unexpected action causing Kevin to burst out laughing.

“This has to be _really_ quick though.” Connor continued, giggling mischievously, as he leaned down over Kevin’s body to kiss him. He walked over to the door and locked it before flipping the light switch off. With the moonlight pouring in through the window, the room was dimmer and had a coziness about it. “Like super fast.”

“I don’t think I’ll have any problem with that.” Kevin admitted shyly, his face flushed.

“And you have to be really quiet. We’re in your parents’ house.” Connor warned. He quickly yanked off his own shirt and threw it to the side recklessly causing Kevin to grin wildly.

“You’re the noisy one, Con, not me.” Kevin softly chided him, as he reached his arms all the way out, signaling for Connor to come close to him.

Connor complied, leaning down to tenderly kiss his partner, Kevin wrapping his arms instinctively around the supple skin of his boyfriend’s back. “We’ll see about that.” Connor retorted as he pulled back, a playful smirk on his lips.

After a few moments of heated kissing, they moved to the middle of the bed so they would be more comfortable, Connor uncharacteristically on top of his boyfriend, Kevin’s shirt and pants long since removed. Kevin moaned quietly through the kiss as Connor expertly glided his tongue in and out of his mouth, flickering and licking him ever so gently. It drove Kevin completely bonkers, causing his erection to pop out of the hole in his boxer shorts.

Connor lifted his lips off of his partner and stared into his eyes for a moment. Kevin’s pupils were large and dilated, his face flushed, glowing. He looked beautiful.

“Don’t you ever get tired of being so gorgeous?” Connor murmured as he leaned back down to place a soft kiss on his lips, Kevin grinning through the kiss at the compliment.

Connor pulled back and smirked. “I don’t think we should actually…um, you know…go all the way or anything tonight…not here with your family. But…um.” Connor blushed beet red and laced his fingers around the waistband of Kevin’s boxers, slowly pulling them off, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from Kevin. “I still want to give you some, um, birthday…love.”

“Oh…” Kevin involuntarily moaned the instant Connor’s hand wrapped around his shaft. Slowly, Connor moved his hand up and down, lubricating it with some of Kevin’s own fluid that had been slowly seeping out of him from being so aroused. After a few moments of stroking, Connor leaned down and wrapped his warm lips around Kevin’s head, causing the boy to writhe and twitch beneath him.

“Connor!” Kevin yelped, a bit too loudly. “That feels so good…oh, my god…”

Connor lifted his head up for a moment, licking his lips seductively, tasting Kevin, before smirking. “Who’s being loud now.” He whispered playfully, Kevin giggling in response and covering his mouth with his hand shyly.

Connor knelt back down to teasingly flicker his tongue over Kevin’s head, causing the boy to let out an even louder gasp at the sensation. It was now clear to Connor that too many weeks had gone by without touching each other like this since it was only about a minute in and Kevin was already about to burst. Connor didn’t want to admit it, but seeing Kevin like this, completely undone and at his mercy, pleading, always turned him on like crazy. Clearly, Kevin’s body was feeling a little extra sensitive after too long an absence from Connor’s touch.

“Mmmm…” Kevin moaned, reaching down to caress Connor’s soft red hair. “My sweet…sweet Connor.” He murmured lovingly to his partner, stroking his hair. Kevin then felt Connor’s lubricated finger slowly slide up into his opening and eventually press down firmly and gently rub the most sensitive area inside of his body, causing Kevin to involuntarily tremble and yelp loudly again. “Oh God!”

“Shhh.” Connor chided softly, sliding his finger out of Kevin and reaching up to gently caress his arm. Kevin instinctively laced his fingers through Connor’s and they held hands like that while Connor leaned back down, taking Kevin’s painfully hard erection into his mouth. After a few minutes of Connor pumping Kevin with one hand while simultaneously suckling him, Kevin resigned to biting a throw pillow so he had something to muffle his cries. He could feel how close he was now and bit down hard on the pillow as he felt the long-awaited flood of butterflies and love encompass his entire body, his mind suddenly warm, mushed and melted.

Connor heard Kevin’s muffled cries as he came, but the words and sounds were unidentifiable with the pillow in his mouth. The pillow quieted his screams somewhat, but Connor just hoped it muffled them enough so that Kevin’s mother couldn’t hear them in the next room.

Connor felt the rush of fluid shoot out rapidly from Kevin and, though he didn’t always do this, he allowed some of it to gush into his mouth, tasting it. He reached over a few seconds later once he was sure Kevin was empty and grabbed a towel to wipe his mouth and Kevin off with. Sweat was pouring down Kevin’s forehead and cheeks, his hair completely moist and disheveled. He looked so content, his face positively glowing, the moonlight from the window bouncing off his cheeks. Connor felt a swell of emotion well up inside of him as he gazed down at his entirely undone partner, in conjunction with a strange satisfaction in knowing that Kevin’s happy glow was solely because of his doing.

Kevin reached out his arms, wanting to hold Connor close. Connor crawled up on top of him, kissing him passionately, Kevin tasting the familiar taste of himself on Connor’s lips. Kevin’s breathing was still erratic at best and he had to keep gasping for air. He could feel Connor’s hardness pressing into his leg and a pang of guilt hit him.

“What about you?” Kevin asked Connor breathily, pulling back from their kiss, gasping. “I want to make you happy too. Let me—”

“You can repay me tomorrow night, in Florida.” Connor cut him off, placing a delicate finger on Kevin’s lips. “I don’t think we should do anything else here, we were already too loud.” He smirked. “Well, _you_ were too loud.”

Kevin blushed hard and sent Connor a sheepish look. “Sorry. But it’s been a while, Con.”

Connor giggled. “I know. It’s okay.” He leaned in and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Kevin’s lips. “Besides, watching you bite that pillow was really hot, I have to admit.”

Kevin blushed even harder, his cheeks all rosy. “Connor.” He whispered in a small voice. “I wasn’t that loud, was I?”

Connor laughed and leaned in to softly kiss him on the lips, cupping Kevin’s cheek with his hand. He could feel Kevin’s cheek was drenched with sweat that was slowly drying. “Happy birthday, sweetie.”

Kevin grinned and kissed him back tenderly. “A very happy birthday indeed.”

 

* * *

 

Kevin woke Connor up at half past five in the morning the next day, much to the other boy’s displeasure, the latter boy grunting loudly and pulling the blanket over his head in protest.

“Wake up, Con.” Kevin urged impatiently, shaking the snoozing lump beside him. “We have a lot to do before we leave for the airport tonight.”

Kevin yanked the blanket off of Connor’s face, to reveal his sleepy lover with messy bedhead, his normally-sparkling blue eyes, tired and annoyed. He looked positively adorable when he was agitated.

“You’re so cute when you’re mad at me, McKinley.” Kevin teased, leaning down to give his boyfriend a soft kiss.

Connor let out a whiny grunt and begrudgingly sat part-way up. “Seriously, Kevin, I know you’re excited and all but it’s not even six yet. Can’t we sleep a little longer? I’m exhausted, we didn’t go to sleep until one.”

“Well, who’s fault was that?” Kevin asked playfully, reminding Connor of his late night “birthday gift”.

Connor’s eyes widened as he scoffed, a shy smirk appearing on his face. “Oh, don’t you dare.” He balked at his boyfriend, flopping back down and snuggling into the blankets. “Don’t you even dare.”

After a moment or two, Connor reached out his arms for Kevin. “Come on, just ten more minutes? Please?”

Kevin couldn’t say no to him, not with his soft red hair puffed up every which way from sleep and his eyes pleading. Kevin nodded, his lips curling up. “Fine, but just ten more minutes.”

Connor pulled Kevin down into him, curling his leg around his boyfriend’s thighs, Kevin’s head leaning atop Connor’s chest. After a few minutes, Connor drifted off to sleep again, Kevin feeling the boy’s body grow lax beneath him and his nose eliciting a small, tired snore. Kevin gently detangled himself from his partner and went into the shower, letting his partner get an extra thirty minutes of sleep.

 

* * *

 

Three hours later, the boys were at the local mall, trying to buy last-minute supplies for their trip.

“There are literally no bathing suits left.” Kevin whined. “Not unless you’re a triple-x or an extra small.” He sent Connor a mournful look. “This is hopeless.”

Connor reached into the rack they had been browsing and pulled out a very tacky Superman speedo, size medium. “Not true! Look at this one!”

Kevin’s eyebrows furrowed in horror. “You’re kidding, right? I am _not_ wearing that in public.”

“Okay.” Connor bit his lip for a moment, blushing. “Um, how about in private?”

“Seriously? This is sexy to you?” Kevin laughed in disbelief, pointing to the item in question. “It’s a _Superman_ speedo, Connor. A really… _tight_ …Superman speedo.”

“I know.” Connor was still holding it up, blushing and silently pleading with Kevin. Kevin’s eyes widened at the realization that Connor actually wanted him to buy it. It sent a warm tingle down his spine. “You’re crazy!” He paused when Connor didn’t budge. “Fine, I’ll try them on.”

He roughly grabbed the embarrassing item from Connor with a mild blush and added it to the pile, eliciting a quiet giggle from Connor. Kevin sighed, smirking at his partner. “Only for you, Con. I am _not_ wearing that thing in front of people at the happiest place on Earth.”

Connor looped his arm through Kevin’s as they continued shopping. After going to a couple of other stores, they finally found bathing suits in size medium and large that weren’t completely indecent or silly.

Connor felt himself flush as they passed the condom aisle while in the supermarket, where they were picking up shampoo, snacks, and sunscreen. He poked Kevin, who was intently reading the SPF information on several of the sunscreen options (mainly for protecting Connor’s pasty white skin). Connor cleared his throat and whispered. “Hey, um, did you want to look at, uh, you know, that stuff.” He pointed down the aisle. “I don’t think we have much, um, stuff left at home.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, of course.” Kevin replied shyly with a slight blush, placing two of the highest grade sunscreens into their cart.

Connor and Kevin made sure they were the only two people in the aisle before they finally started looking at the items together.

“Holy moly, this place has ten times more options than any of the stores I went to in Uganda.” Kevin’s eyes widened as they looked over all of the different supplies. “This is making me confused all over again. I mean, seriously, who needs…vibrating mint condoms?” He asked jokingly, glancing over at Connor. He pointed to another one. “ _Ultra thin lambskin_? What?”

Conner giggled shyly at Kevin’s silliness and swiftly grabbed a few different types of lube and condoms from the rack. “Let’s just get these. Come on, I don’t want anyone seeing us over here. Let’s go.”

Kevin smirked and took Connor’s hand into his, stopping him from walking away. “Why? We’re allowed to be here just as much as anyone else.”

Connor shrugged. “People might think it’s weird, Kevin. I mean, we’re two boys together in the— _sex aisle_.” He whispered in a low voice, glancing around to see if they had any unexpected company.

“You really need to stop caring what other people think.” Kevin whispered, reaching up to brush the other boy’s cheek with his hand. “And if you think I’m not going to kiss you all over Disney World, in front of everyone, at every ride, in every pool, at all the restaurants and with every character we get a picture with, then you have another thing coming.” Kevin then leaned in to place a gentle kiss on Connor’s lips, holding both of them there for a few moments, linking his partner’s hands into his own as he did so.

Pulling back, Kevin could see a shy smile appear on Connor’s face. Kevin returned the smile and the two spent a few more minutes looking at the various weird things the aisle had to offer before making their selections and leaving, all of their shopping complete.

 

* * *

 

It was a long, six-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando. Connor planned to sleep most of the way to make up for the night before, but Kevin was too excited to even close his eyes. After all, they were going to _Orlando!_

Holding his snoozing boyfriend close to him, he watched several movies and downed as many free black coffees and snacks as he could handle. He was on vacation, going to his favorite place in the whole world, and he was going to enjoy every single minute of it. At about nine o’ clock at night, the staff passed out little pillows and blankets to everyone and turned off the lights so people could sleep.

Connor sleepily wiped his eyes as he sat up from the disturbance of Kevin shifting and covering them up with the blanket. Connor’s red hair was all fuzzy and standing up from rubbing against Kevin and the seat.

“Mmmm, Kev.” He groaned in protest of whatever movement was happening that was waking him up. “What time is it?”

“It’s nine. We still have two more hours to go.” Kevin whispered softly into the other boy’s ear, wrapping one arm around Connor’s shoulders and the other across his midsection, under the blanket, so he could caress the skin of his partner’s belly.

Kevin gazed down adoringly at the sleepy boy in his arms who was struggling to get comfortable again. Kevin silently noted how cute Connor looked when his ginger hair got all messy from sleep and how he sometimes yawned a bit too loudly as he stretched and tried to get comfy. Then again, he loved absolutely everything about Connor McKinley, his entire being, even the little quirks his boyfriend considered to be flaws and imperfections about himself. They all mixed together to make up the most wonderful human being he could ever possibly have imagined, his perfect Connor. He had no idea how he ever got so lucky, that this person whom he loved so much it that it sometimes _hurt_ , actually loved him back just as much. The insanity of it all still got to Kevin in times like these, when he found himself just staring down at this perfect person wrapped up in his arms, pondering how things always seemed to work out for the best, as though the universe knew exactly what was to happen all along and the obstacles put in front them were just designed to test them—to make them stronger. That was a nice thing to believe in every now and then, he thought.

It was almost one in the morning by the time they finally got to their hotel room at the resort. Kevin’s caffeine kick had worn off by then which left him completely crashed. They stumbled sleepily into the room, suitcases in tow, and Kevin collapsed instantly on the bed with a loud thud.

Connor had gotten plenty of sleep on the plane, but it had been uncomfortable to say the least.

“Kev, look at this place! It’s gorgeous.” Connor looked around their room in awe before noticing that it had multiple rooms. He walked into the bathroom and cupped his hands over his mouth in excitement.

“A hot tub! Holy crap!” Connor exclaimed, jumping up and down a little bit with excitement. He ran into the other room and found a spare bedroom and a small kitchenette.

Overjoyed at the luxuriousness of their suite, he ran out to get Kevin and shook his head, amused, when he found Kevin laying down face-first on the bed, softly snoring.

Connor gently shook Kevin awake. “Kev, get up and look at this place! It’s a suite! Your mom got us a suite!”

Kevin looked up with a loud groan. “I can’t move.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek into the bed cover. “Sorry, I was going to make it up to you tonight. The birthday sex.” Kevin grumbled sleepily. “I think I have to sleep though.”

Connor let out an amused chuckle and tousled Kevin’s hair. “Shh, don’t worry about that, silly. We have ten days. Just come take a look at the room, then we’ll go right to sleep, okay?” His partner urged, pulling him up. Connor managed to get him up and he brought Kevin through the suite.

“Wow.” Kevin said in awe once he finally looked around at everything. It was gorgeous. His mom had clearly sprung for the luxury suite.

Connor showed him the bathroom next.

“A hot tub?” Kevin gasped in disbelief. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a hot tub before.” Suddenly Kevin’s mouth curled up into a sly smile. “We’re gonna have fun in there.”

Connor blushed rosy red and leaned into Kevin. “Everything is just so beautiful. This is going to be such an amazing trip. And Orlando, your favorite place in the whole world. It’s just…perfect.”

“Every place is perfect as long as you’re with me, Con. Even hot as balls Uganda.” Kevin admitted through a yawn, wrapping his arms around his partner’s waist and pulling him in close. Kevin cocked his head to the side and smiled. “The hot tub really puts it over the top though.”

The two boys giggled into one another for a little while, holding each other close, before heading off to sleep—happy, young, and alive.

 

* * *

 

“You can’t bring that thing with you. What are you gonna do on the rides?” Kevin asked, chastising Connor about the giant Nikon camera hanging from his neck. It was eight o’clock in the morning and the pair were getting ready for their first day at Disney World.

They were going to Magic Kingdom first, of course, followed by Epcot later in the day. Magic Kingdom was Kevin’s absolute favorite park at Disney World. Now that they were both twenty-one, the two boys were also looking forward to Epcot since they could legally drink now. They had gotten a lot better at pacing themselves after the incident at Nabulungi’s party the first time they had tried alcohol.

“Then how am I supposed to take pictures of us?” Connor complained. “You know my phone doesn’t have a camera.”

“We’ll use mine, silly.” Kevin offered. “You really need to get a new phone, Con. That thing doesn’t even have internet.”

“At least let me put it in my fanny pack. I don’t trust you to take the pictures.” Connor retorted, grabbing the iPhone from Kevin’s nightstand and shoving it into the pack around his waist.

“You’re gonna be the only twenty-one-year-old gay boy wearing a fanny pack at the park.” Kevin teased, tugging at his partner’s fanny pack. “These are for old people, Con.”

Connor simply glared at him with a half-smile. “Fanny packs are incredibly useful. I can fit everything I need in here and still have free hands.” He twirled around, showing how free his hands were.

Kevin thought it was adorable and leaned down to place a soft peck on the redhead’s cheek. “I love you _and_ your fanny pack.” He stated sweetly, pulling back from the kiss. “Now let’s get out of here.”

They had a delicious breakfast consisting of coffee (for Kevin), Mickey-shaped pancakes and eggs at the cafeteria downstairs and boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom.

Kevin immediately took charge of the map once they were inside the park. “Let’s go to Tomorrowland and do Space Mountain first before the line gets any longer! It’s my favorite. You like Space Mountain, right?”

Connor shrugged. “I’ve never been here before so I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll like Space Mountain though. That’s like a roller coaster, right?”

Kevin took a step back and waved his hands in the air, seemingly in shock. “Wait, _what_? You’ve never been here before?” Connor shook his head, much to Kevin’s horror. “How did your parents never take you to Disney World?”

Connor half-smiled at Kevin’s shocked face. Of course someone like Kevin couldn’t fathom how his parents never took him to Disney World. “I don’t know. They weren’t too big on amusement parks. But I’m excited to be here with you now. This will be way more fun than going with my parents.”

“Okay, wow. We’ll have to do _everything_ then. Come on.” Kevin exclaimed, grinning, and pulling Connor in the direction of Tomorrowland. “Space Mountain first!”

They rode Space Mountain twice in a row, Kevin joyfully screaming and lifting his hands off the bar whenever it snapped their photos. Roller coasters made Connor feel a bit queasy and dizzy, but he rode it the second time anyway for Kevin.

“I think I’m gonna puke.” Connor complained dizzily as they exited the ride a second time, clutching his stomach. “Ugh…let’s do an easy one next.”

“No puking at the happiest place on Earth.” Kevin chided, clutching the park map with one hand and wrapping his arm around his boyfriend’s hips with the other, pulling him close as they walked to the next ride. Connor felt a bit tense at how openly Kevin was displaying his affection for him in front of all these people. He knew that being gay was more accepted in Orlando than it was in Salt Lake City, but the Mormon upbringing in him still made him worry needlessly.

After Space Mountain, Kevin brought Connor over to the Carousel of Progress, then to Star Tours (two nice and easy ones) before finally walking to Fantasyland. There, Kevin and Connor got a nice tourist to take their picture in front of Cinderella’s castle. Once they were done posing different ways and taking silly pictures of each other, the boys sat near the steps of the castle so they could watch the Disney parade go by, Kevin grabbing the iPhone from Connor and taking as many pictures as he could.

“Look, Con! It’s Mickey and Minnie!” Kevin exclaimed as the Mickey float went by first, followed by Aladdin. “And Jasmine and Aladdin! Look!” He yelled loudly, snapping pictures excitedly. “Come over here!”

Connor got up to stand beside Kevin, giggling at Kevin’s enthusiasm. He absolutely relished in seeing Kevin so happy. With everything that had happened over the past few weeks—coming home, finding out about his parents’ divorce, and just dealing with the pressures of being back in Utah with his family—Connor’s heart just melted at the fact that Kevin was so overjoyed from being together at Disney, his favorite place in the world. Connor silently wished he could make Kevin’s face light up that bright all the time. They both knew that after this trip, they would need to start figuring out what they were going to do next—would they go to school (preferably together), get jobs, move out? They didn’t know yet. All they knew was that they would need to sort it out once they were back home. Connor wished he could just freeze time right at this moment so that he and Kevin could just be happy like this forever. But, alas, that wasn’t possible. They would just need to make the most of these ten days and hope that what was to come wouldn’t be so bad.

After riding most of the rides in Magic Kingdom and eating copious amounts of junk food, it was now four o’clock in the afternoon. The pair had already shared a nice lunch, an ice cream cone, a giant lollipop (most of which ended up getting thrown out, but it was yummy nonetheless), and a cookie. Kevin and Connor took the Monorail over to Epcot next. They had a couple of hours to wander around the World Showcase before they had to be at Mexico, where they had dinner reservations at _La Hacienda de San Angel_.

While in Germany, Kevin bought them two traditional Bavarian beers and the pair sat down on a curb to watch a little street show they had seen going on next to the bar.

“Cheers.” Kevin exclaimed, clinking his souvenir mug to Connor’s, before taking in a big sip.

He noticed Connor’s eyes looking a bit glassy. “Hey.” Kevin whispered, leaning in to place a soft peck on the boy’s cheek. “You okay?”

Connor nodded, smiling happily, but a lone tear still leaked from his eye. “Yeah, I’m just feeling a little, um…a little overwhelmed, that’s all.”

Kevin’s face fell instantly. “You’re not having fun?”

Connor laughed and shook his head. “Of course I’m having fun!”

He was glad to hear that, but still didn’t understand. “Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, silly.” Connor cooed and leaned in to place a gentle kiss on Kevin’s lips. Pulling back, he wiped the teardrop off his own cheek. “I just, um— “, he stammered, trying to find the right words to properly convey the emotions he was feeling. “I just love you so much, Kevin. Sometimes it just makes me feel a little overwhelmed inside.” He instinctively moved his hand up over his heart. “That’s all I meant.” Connor leaned his head down onto Kevin’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I just wish we could stay exactly like this forever. That it wouldn’t ever have to end.”

“This is only the first day!” Kevin reminded him excitedly, reaching over with his free arm to pull Connor in close to his side. “We still have nine more days of fun ahead of us. And nights.” Kevin added in softly, flushing at the thought of finally having Connor alone in their hotel room without his parents in the next room.

Connor nodded and stirred his beer around in his mug. “I know, I know.”

Kevin could tell that Connor was feeling very emotional, for whatever reason, and wanted to cheer him up. “Oh, and we can watch the fireworks tonight here at Epcot. They’re really beautiful. They shoot them up over the lake there.” Kevin pointed towards the large body of water that is centered within Epcot. “They play Disney music and we can buy glow sticks and stuff. It’s awesome. Then tomorrow night, we’ll watch the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. Those are even _better_.”

He set his beer down on the step beside them so he could wrap his other arm around Connor’s front. “And after the fireworks, we’ll go back to the hotel and, um…” Kevin blushed hotly. “Maybe use the hot tub? I mean, only if you want…”

Kevin felt his partner giggle relentlessly in his arms, causing him to grin wildly.

“I love you so much, Connor McKinley.” He whispered softly, reaching up to card his hand through Connor’s hair. “Every day I spend with you is like going to Disney World all over again.”

Connor felt a pang of something shoot through his heart. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but it certainly was strong. He sat up a little and looked into Kevin’s eyes for a moment. They were deep and filled to the brim with love. His heart could barely handle any more. That was quite possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to him. “Really?”

Kevin nodded, reaching up to brush his hand along Connor’s cheek. “Really.”

Connor’s eyes leaked happy tears and they sat there for a while longer, holding one another and sipping their drinks, gazing out onto the lake, before heading over to their fancy dinner reservation, where they drank a few margaritas and got a little silly together, before heading down to the lake later on to watch the fireworks.

Connor decided that this was the best day of his entire life. Other than the day he and Kevin met for the first time and the day they kissed for the first time and the day they made love for the first time and the day they woke up next to each other for the first time. Other than those days, _this_ was the best day of his entire life. And it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

 

_THE END_

_(But there will be a Part 3 later on)_


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